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Council of Europe Commissioner condemns anti-migration rhetoric

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has published a Memorandum addressed to the UK Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire, in which he condemns the use of anti migrant language and rhetoric by Ministers including David Cameron and Theresa May, criticises discriminatory and disproportionate measures against migrants and expresses disappointment with the UK’s lack of solidarity with other EU Member States

The Commissioner commends the UK’s efforts in providing resettlement to Syrian refugees. However, he expresses disappointment with the UK’s lack of solidarity with other EU Member States by refusing to participate in the EU relocation programme. He notes the low number of asylum claims in the UK compared to elsewhere in the Eu then going on:
The UK government’s lack of readiness to show more solidarity with other European countries is also at odds with the very small share of asylum seekers in net migration in the UK, which since 2005 has ranged between 3% and 10%. It appears that UK government policies in this context are determined by a flawed assumption that migration flows are strongly linked with asylum seekers rather than with labour migrants, who make up the vast majority of new arrivals in the UK.The Memorandum also highlights the plight of the 67 refugees and asylum seekers who have been in the UK Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus since 1998. The government is urged to resettle them to the UK thus putting an end to their extremely precarious legal and social situation. Read more here